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Trying to use a CAC smart card reader with Mac version of Firefox...downloaded CoolKey and installed on local usr directory but when try to upload into firefox security pkcs11 modules it says "unable to add module." anyone been able to get this to work?

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  • Last reply by jmw1480

jacobrozich
jacobrozich
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I have the newest (4.0) version of Firefox installed on my Mac. I bought a SCR3500 series USB smart card reader that is automatically recognized by the latest version of MacOS. To try get compatibility with firefox, I downloaded CoolKey 1.1 for Mac and installed in the local directory per instructions. When I tried to upload the .dylib file into the security modules recognized by Firefox, I got an "unable to add module" message. Has anyone figured out how to get this to work?

I have the newest (4.0) version of Firefox installed on my Mac. I bought a SCR3500 series USB smart card reader that is automatically recognized by the latest version of MacOS. To try get compatibility with firefox, I downloaded CoolKey 1.1 for Mac and installed in the local directory per instructions. When I tried to upload the .dylib file into the security modules recognized by Firefox, I got an "unable to add module" message. Has anyone figured out how to get this to work?

Modified by jacobrozich

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jmw1480
jmw1480
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BOOYA! I've been going round and round with this issue all week, but tonight... SUCCESS! First, go into the device manager where you've been trying to create modules and unload anything you've recently created. There will probably only be 2 left: NSS Internal PKCS #11 Module and Builtin Roots Module (at least those are the only other two I have). You're insuring that no module is already trying to govern CAC access.

Next, if you're a neat freak like me, go under your user folder and get rid of that 'usr' folder that CoolKey probably created (although I'm sure it's not hurting anything if you're afraid of deleting something important).

Now, the new library you're looking for is called CACKey. A quick Google search should find it. Unfortunately, you may need a CAC to even access it, so you may have to download at work and email the .tar or .pkg file to yourself. But if you've been messing around with this stuff then that shouldn't be too complex.

Once you have that file (for me, I just downloaded the Snow Leopard version), it's cream cheese: open the file, it'll run an installer and put the files in one of two places (which it tells you before the install, and you can always re-open the package to re-read the locations). Now back into Firefox, load a module the way you've been trying, and, hopefully, you're in.

Hope this helps! P.S. I'm on Mac OS 10.6.8 and Firefox 5.0.

Modified by jmw1480